Vandals sabotage snowplows ahead of winter storm

Updated
7:03 am EST, Wednesday, February 13, 2019

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban New York City community says someone sabotaged Mount Vernon's fleet of snowplow and salting trucks overnight.

A city spokesperson says latex gloves were found stuffed into the fuel tanks of all Department of Public Works trucks, which prompted their breakdowns when they went out early Tuesday. Police are investigating the event as an act of vandalism.

Workers had to remove the gloves and pieces of latex from the tanks of 16 garbage trucks and 13 snow plows at the DPW garage and yard while a winter storm bore down on the region.

Mayor Richard Thomas called the vandalism an attack on all the residents of Mount Vernon, calling it a "direct act of intimidation." The city has requested emergency assistance from the state of New York.